History Crash Course #50: Reformation and the Jews

The Reformation exposed the corruption of the Church. For the Jews it meant more bad news.

Jewish history did not happen in a vacuum, and we have to always keep in mind the events going on in the world at large that impacted the Jews in a major way. One of those huge events that shook up Europe was the Protestant Reformation.

What brought it about?

Simply put, the corruption of the Church in Rome.

As we saw in Part 45, with the decline of the Roman Empire, the Church became the great feudal player in the economic system of Europe. This was a system that, while virtually enslaving huge masses of people, made the Church very rich and very powerful ― both politically and militarily.

"Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely," said Lord Acton, and this was certainly true of the Church at this time.

Rolling in wealth, the Church built great edifices and fielded its own armies and sank deeper and deeper into immorality, materialism, and decadence.

The list of papal affairs and political intrigues is extensive. For example, Pope Alexander VI bribed some members of the College of Cardinals to insure his election in 1492, the year the Jews were thrown out of Spain. [History of Christianity, Paul Johnson, p. 280, 363] Once in office, he brought the papacy to new heights of spiritual laxity.

A number of popes before him had abandoned celibacy, but Alexander VI openly flaunted his reputation as a great lover. He had a portrait of his mistress ― dressed up like Mary, the mother of Jesus ― painted over the door in his bedroom, and he publicly acknowledged his illegitimate children, who became famous in their own right, Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia. [Chronicle of the World, Derrik Mercer ed., DK Publishing, p.391]

Giovanni Boccaccio, the great 14th century Italian humanist writer offers us a humorous insight into the corruption and decadence of the Church of his day. In his classic work, Decameron, a Jew by the name of Abraham is pressured by a Christian friend to visit Rome in the hope that he will be so impressed that he will convert to Christianity. Abraham returns disgusted and reports:

"I say this for that, if I was able to observe aright, no piety, no devoutness, no good work or example of life or other what did I see there in any who was Churchman: nay lust, covetise, gluttony and the like and worse ... And as far as I judge, meseemeth your chief pastor and consequently all others endeavor with all diligence and all their wit and every art to bring to nought and to banish from the world the [values of the] Christian religion ..."

Dangerous Book

Those wanting to reform the moral stature of the Church were powerless. Even as the hypocrisy of the situation was becoming intolerable, the Church used its power to stifle any signs of defiance.

The defiance began in the 14th century with challenges to Church doctrine and attempts at translating the Bible into languages other than Latin (the language of the Roman Empire which few spoke). These attempts were brutally put down.

Why didn't the Church want the common people to read the Bible? Just imagine what might happen if the serfs should get a hold of a Bible and find out what it actually said about the obligations of every person (even "his lordship" and "his eminence") of loving his neighbor and of treating him with equality since all human beings were created in the image of God.

It is precisely for this reason that the Church refrained from translating the Bible into the vernacular. Writes Henry Phelps-Brown in Egalitarianism and the Generation of Inequality (p. 68):

"Despite its anxiety to save man's souls from the perdition of earthly pursuits in order to preserve it for the salvation of the life after death, the medieval Church insulated pupils from the dangerous contamination of Scriptures. Only those entering holy orders were allowed to study theology and delve into Holy Writ. Unsupervised, independent exploration of the Bible was tantamount to heresy and only clerics in good standing were permitted to expound Scripture from a Latin text incomprehensible to the Christian masses."

Martin Luther

In 1506, the Church of Rome undertook one of its grandest and most expensive projects ― the building of a new St. Peter's Basilica as the centerpiece of the Vatican. The Church was to be so lavish and so huge that, when completed 150 years later, it was the largest Church ever built and it remained so until 1989.

Such an astronomical project would take an astronomical sum of money, and, as a source of fund-raising, the Church turned to the sale of indulgences.

The practice of granting indulgences ― remission of punishment for sins through the intercession of the Church ― already had a long history. But early on, indulgences were granted when a sinner performed some hazardous duty for the Church ― like going on a crusade. (A crusade to the Holy Land got you forgiveness for all sins ever committed.) Later, it became possible to buy indulgences on your deathbed. (Thus, you insured that you would enter heaven immediately, bypassing purgatory.)

With the Church engaged in a major fund-raising effort, the sale on indulgences took on new significance.

Pope Sixtus IV's fund-raising campaign touted indulgences which would free your deceased loved ones suffering in purgatory. Church envoys resorted to imitating the anguished wailing of parents who, in the throes of holy purification fires, pleaded with their children to buy an indulgence and ease their torment.

One creative envoy, a Dominican monk by the name of Johann Tetzel, made up a little ditty: "As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs."

At the height of the indulgence sale, Martin Luther, an Augustinian friar from Germany, traveled to Rome and was shocked by what he saw. How could the Church sell God's gifts to the highest bidder? And how could the bishops and cardinals behave with such moral laxity and worldliness?

Luther returned home and was plunged into a crisis of faith. He resolved his dilemma by coming up with the theory of grace, which would later become part of the Protestant theology. This theory holds that salvation comes by God's grace ― or God's indulgence, so to speak. A gift from God could clearly not be sold by the Church.

Full of youthful idealistic zeal (he was only 34 at the time), Luther posted his protest ― the now famous "Ninety-Five Theses" ― on the door of All Saints Church in Wittenberg, on October 31, 1517.

The long and short of it was that his protest reached Rome and he was asked, in no uncertain terms, to recant. He refused, proclaiming his famous defense, "Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise." He was excommunicated four years later. (Luther went into hiding in 1521 in Wartburg Castle where he translated the Bible from Greek to German. His translation appeared in 1522 and had a tremendous political impact on the church and on German culture and language.)

But it was too late to silence him, thanks in part to a remarkable technological advance which would change history forever ― the Gutenberg press.

A mere fifty years before Luther's protest, Johann Gutenberg had perfected a system of making metal letters in moulds, setting them in rows, and using the templates thus formed to print multiple copies of a document in minutes, which previously would have had to be copied tediously by hand over many hours.

When this incredible printing machine was applied to Luther's "Ninety Five Theses" ― which, in effect, represented an indictment of the Church ― all hell broke loose. What might have been a local dispute, with the protestant muzzled by his excommunication, became a public controversy that spread far and wide.

Martin Luther's new religion, called Protestantism, got a lot of backing across northern Europe from the nobles who were more than happy to throw the Church out of their land and seize the Church's wealth.

The Church had its allies as well, and Europe was thrown into the Thirty Years War (1618-1648). This war, which was primarily between Protestants and Catholics, meant a lot of bloodshed and loss of life and destruction.(1) And it had a big impact on the Jews.

Luther and the Jews

Luther had seen how shamefully the Church had treated the Jews, and he had a plan to change that(2). He was sure that the reason that Jews did not convert to Christianity was that they couldn't stomach the corruption of the Church. Now the Jews would see that the Protestants were different and that they would be nice to the Jews. And then, the Jews would all become Christians.

He wrote in his work entitled, That Jesus Christ Was A Jew:

For they [Church clergy] have dealt with the Jews as if they were dogs and not human beings. They have done nothing for them but curse them and seize their wealth... I hope that if the Jews are treated friendly and instructed kindly enough through the Bible, many of them will become real Christians and come back to the ancestral faith of the prophets and patriarchs...(3)

Naturally, the Jews didn't go for Protestantism either. Their allegiance to Judaism and the Torah had nothing to do with the Christians being nasty to them. To Jews, Christianity was a false religion from the start, and the behavior of the Christians over the years only proved it.

Now Martin Luther would further add to that proof. As soon as the Jews rejected his overtures and didn't start converting en masse, Luther, who took this rejection personally, turned into one of the most virulent anti-Semites in history.

A few years later, he wrote in his Concerning The Jews And Their Lies:

"What shall we do with this damned rejected race of Jews since they live among us and we know about their lying and blasphemy and cursing. We cannot tolerate them even if we do not wish to share their lives, curses and blasphemy. Perhaps we can spare a few of them from the fire and flames. Let me give you my honest advice..."(4)

Luther's "honest advice" outlined a plan for dealing with the Jews. It included:

burn all synagogues

destroy Jewish holy books

forbid rabbis to teach

destroy Jewish homes

ban Jews from roads and markets

forbid Jews to make loans

seize Jewish property

force Jews to do hard labor

expel Jews from Christian towns

(For more on Luther's plan see A History of the Jews by Paul Johnson, p. 242. See also Why the Jews? by Dennis Prager and Joseph Telushkin, p. 107.)

Four hundred years later, Hitler and the Nazis, using Luther's anti-Jewish writings in their anti-Jewish propaganda, would put that plan into action.

1) Although it was ostensibly a religious conflict between Protestant and Catholics, the rivalry between the Austrian Habsburg dynasty and other powers was a more central motive, as shown by the fact that Catholic France supported the Protestant side in order to weaken the Habsburgs, thereby furthering France's position as the pre-eminent European power. This increased the France-Habsburg rivalry which led later to direct war between France and Spain.
2) Luther actually lived in a part of Germany from where the Jews had long-since been expelled. It may well be that he, like William Shakespeare, never actually met a Jew.
3) Alexis P. Rubin ed., Scattered Among the Nations-Documents Affecting Jewish History 49 to 1975. (Jason Aronson, 1993), pp 94-96.
4) Ibid., 89-90.

Featured at Aish.com:

About the Author

Rabbi Ken Spiro, originally from New Rochelle, NY, graduated from Vassar College with a BA in Russian Language and Literature and did graduate studies at the Pushkin Institute in Moscow. He has rabbinic ordination from Aish Jerusalem and a Masters Degree in History from Vermont College of Norwich University. Rabbi Spiro is also a licensed tour guide by the Israel Ministry of Tourism. He has appeared on numerous radio and TV programs such as BBC, National Geographic Channel and The History Channel. He lives near Jerusalem with his wife and five children, where he works as a senior lecturer for Aish Jerusalem.

In one volume, Crash Course in Jewish History explores the 4,000 years of Jewish existence while answering the great questions: Why have the Jewish people been so unique, so impactful, yet so hated and so relentlessly persecuted?

Crash Course in Jewish History is not only comprehensive and readable, it is also entertaining and enlightening. Novices and scholars alike will find Crash Course in Jewish History to be thought-provoking and insightful, as well as a valuable and relevant guide to understanding the challenges we all face in the 21st century.

The opinions expressed in the comment section are the personal views of the commenters. Comments are moderated, so please keep it civil.

Visitor Comments: 34

(34)
philip zhao,
April 17, 2011 6:01 AM

I began to see the light !

I've burned mid-night oil to have finished the crash course non-stop for fear of loss of continuity in the time tunnel of 6,000 years long. By the time I got to the other end of the tunnel, it's daybreak and I began to see the light !!

(33)
Thomas Sebastian,
November 27, 2007 5:05 AM

A Big Thank You

Dear Respected Rabbi Due to lack of time let me limit my comment with A Big Thank You

(32)
Ank,
November 27, 2007 4:05 AM

I've read some of the comments and I realise that christians are not realy loved and trusted. I am a christian too...I can't blame you... when I read about what happend in the past ...it makes me screem. I love jews; I have jewish friends and I appreciate them and I find it a privilege to know them; they are so very special to me. And what makes me more glad is that they trust me and care about me as well... I hate antisemitism and racism and everything that puts one man above others; we are all the same in G~d's eyes, though I look at jewish people and see them a little more special, because God choose them (you) to bring light into the world through you, when He gave the Torah at Mount Sinai... May G~d bless the jews all over the world!

(31)
Marc Milton-Talbot,
November 27, 2007 3:40 AM

St Paul is responsible for all this.

Paul's writings transformed an obscure Jewish holy man into the Son of God of the Gentiles.We have him to blame for all that flowed from that.Some are of the opinion that he was deranged.He certainly seemed to be a woman hater.The Romans helped by exterminating Jesus' original Jewish followers in AD70,thus leaving no other version of Christianity but Paul's.On the subject of the Church's monopoly on Truth;Tyndall,the translator of the Bible into English was stabbed to death by the Pope's assasins while in Holland arranging for his bible to be printed.The Da Vinci Code isn't half as good a yarn as what really happened.

(30)
Menashe Kaltmann,
November 20, 2007 5:36 PM

Martin Luther's disgraceful anti-semite

Thank you again R. Spiro for this scholarly written albeit sad article.

The disgraceful comments of Martin Luther after he saw he couldn't influence The Jewish People are rabidly antisemitic. They reek of hatred.

Consider this further quote attributed to Martin Luther:

"Whenever you encounter a real Jew, you may in good faith make the sign of the cross and openly and fearlessly pronounce the words `This is a veritable devil". "Therefore....."do not doubt and never forget, beloved Christians, that apart from Satan himself, you possess no more deadly poisonous, and dreadful enemy than a real Jew. I know that. They poison wells, kidnap and maltreat children....."

Hitler and all the evil Nazis leaned heavily on these anti semitic comments and made use of these comments toarouse anti-semitic feelings in Germany.

May G-d have mercy on The Jewish People!

If this is what one of the leaders of The Christian Reformation said what hope was there from the followers? If any supposed clergy speak this way - what do the followers do?! (Albeit some followers of Chritianity are very pro-Israel nowadays.)

(29)
Chaya Long,
November 20, 2007 3:23 PM

Luther and the Jews

It distresses me to see Christ used when referring to Jesus. Christ is the Anglicized version of Christus (Latin) from Christos (Greek) meaning anointed. Christians use the term to signify Savior.

I understand why Christians use the name, and I would hope that Jews would not use that terminology in referense to Jesus. But I have seen it in other Jewish sites.

(28)
Shemaya,
November 20, 2007 11:04 AM

Take responsibility

Jesus of Nazareth taught repentance first. Repentance requires knowing what the sin is and turning away from it, right? Catholic Christians, Evangelical Christians, any kind of Christians have a religion that has the premise that Judaism is "defective" and that Christianity is the "correction." It says that those who fail or refuse to "recognize" this are under satanic influence (damnable and sub-human). Spiro's example of Luther is just one illustrating this. This is the core of Christianity, the reason for its existence. Love, peace, forgiveness, etc., is not unique at all to Christianity. Until people cease to engage in a religion that subverts Judaism, there will always be a ready-made excuse sitting in the "theological gun closet" for Christians to take out to use on Jews at will. Then they will put away the "gun" and expect forgiveness when they are tired of "shooting" us. The same Christians who love Jews on Sunday or on TV may throw beer bottles at your house on Shabbat, harass you at work, or sabotage your career. These are our friends? No thanks.

(27)
bab,
November 20, 2007 10:37 AM

Like the observation

Reading Hagee's book regarding Cristians support for Israel. The storys parallel.

(26)
Helen Bernadette,
November 20, 2007 9:49 AM

Reading this article along with the comments has given me so much to contemplate. I haven't quite sorted it all out yet, but I can say this, that my whole understanding has been challenged and I have been given much food for thought. I have always loved the Jewish People and been drawn to them. As I got older it dawned on me that perhaps my ancestors from Germany were Jews who converted to survive. My own mother and grandmother practiced many kosher ways, and our family's type of humor is very Jewish. I might have Jewish blood in me. If that oneday is found to be true, I will immediately begin converting to Judaism! Thank you for enlightening us all.

(25)
Scott,
November 20, 2007 12:12 AM

Common Story

Luther wanted to win.

I have never seen him as man of faith, but rather as a man of ambition whose playing field just happened to be Christianity. He wanted his ideas to become the most important in Christendom.

He guessed that should he succeed in winning over the Jews to his brand of Christianity, he'd beat Rome. So he treated us well for a time. When the Jews didn't play along with his plan to use us to satisfy his ambition, he then decided to blame us for his failure. Why? Because his ideas didn't catch on in his lifetime and in that gentile world, Jews couldn't fight back.

Your postscript is a good thing, but is also disconcerting.

While I certianly would not lump all Christians together any more than I would wish them to do the same with Jews, I do think that the past should inform our actions in the future.

As Jews we forgive, but we should not forget the lessons of the past and should be very aware of the position we place ourselves in when we place the security of Israel in gentile hands.

We should welcome the friendship of evangelicals and their support of Israel, but should always remember that their support of Israel and Jews is for some based on their reading of the apocalyptic book of Revelations where we serve as witnesses (at best)to their faith's final solution for the world's problems. We are part of their plan to win, much like we were part of Luther's.

As Jews we know that Jesus isn't coming back from the dead in a blaze of glory. We believe that their plans for us will fail. If we chose to ally ourselves too closely with evangelicals, we should beware of what is likely to happen when their plans for us, like those Luther had for us, fail.

(24)
Kathleen Davis,
November 18, 2007 3:57 PM

Luther was an anti-Semite, Hitler borrowed his ideas and Dietrich Bonhoeffer a Lutheran pastor saved many Jews during the Holocaust.

Martin Luther was hardly mentally disturbed; he was a product of his culture and his time. He may have understood the corruption in the Roman Catholic Church but he could not see beyond the idea of converting Jews and others to Christ under a different model. Christianity's basic tenet is to get others to accept Christ as their messiah and son of G-d. Living in harmony with other religions was not a popular idea in 1514; it was just a question of which religion was most politically powerful. Separation of Church and State was a truly radical idea implemented in the US and yet there were many obstacles, e.g., William Penn allowed Catholics to worship only if in secret. Today we have George Bush's version of Christianity influencing many of his ideas from science to war. But at least in the US there is the rule of law via the Constitution to separate religion and government.

(23)
Teresa Kmetz,
October 28, 2005 12:00 AM

Study harder and think more...

It seems that how we view history depends entirely on what we read, how we trust those sources, what personal biases we hold, and sometimes our own blindness and hurts in life. There are probably more reasons, but these are important. Recently i have studied much to learn more about the so-called "great" Martin Luther. Unfortunately, there are always at least two sides to every story. If one holds a bias against the Catholic Church, everything they see about Her will be tainted. Since i am a Roman Catholic, but raised as a Protestant, and i will add, formed in much of my thinking by the Jewish people i worked for for at least 10 years, i look at things with a wide perspective. It seems that Martin Luther was a mentally disturbed man. It is extremely unjust to blame his mental problems on the Roman Catholic Church. Unfortunately, this has been done repeatedly throughout history. Credit has been erroneously given to a man for a job that he did not do. One comment on your site listed the things that Martin Luther said should be done to the Jews and that they were not done until Adolph Hitler. My information indicates that the worst persecution of the Jews in Germany happened as a result of the treatise that was written by Martin Luther, "Concerning the Jews and Their Lies." This information was written before World War II and therefore the author knew nothing of the atrocities of WWII because it had not happened yet. Please, check many sources, and do not believe in an instant that the "evangelical" Christians are more kind toward Jews. Each person is like a mirror. What you reflect to other people shows who YOU are. It doesn't necessarily show what your Church or faith is. We all sin. We all destroy God's image when we fail to live in the way He has called us to do. Respectfully submitted,
Teresa Kmetz

(22)
Aly Singer,
September 10, 2005 12:00 AM

Martin Luther's Protestantism sorely backfired.

Dear Rabbi,
Sorry to keep commenting but you're really making me think, and I thank you.
I've read the true story of Luther many times before and I still wonder why, if the man, read the bible, protested against the Catholic church, then why did he become so hateful (unless he already was) towards the Jewish people? Could it be that he was "tainted" by years of Catholic teaching? Despite the fact that in the beginning he meant well, he allowed "his" pride to get in the way and therefore could not handle the fact that the Jewish people were not going to convert. I still have evangelical friends that admire Martin Luther and have no clue as to the horrible acts, deeds, this man committed. I make sure to share that part of history with them. As a descendant of Spaniard and Portuguese Jews that settled in Guatemala in the 1500's I want you to know that I find all you have written totally fascinating and educational. In the end I think it's a matter of the heart. Why else would people reading the same bible choose to either love us or hate us? It's bizarre. I just pray that G-d blesses greatly those that choose to bless us and may His vengeance be great on those that hate us and act on their hate.

(21)
Valerie,
June 23, 2003 12:00 AM

I have learned a great deal about Church history and how the church has set out to destroy the Jews from the 2nd century onward and this has caused me great pain in my soul. How can the Church be good when there has been so much evil in it? How can anyone remain a Christian after learning all this horrible history? Even so Christianity is idolatry. If you “love” Jews leave them alone, do not make them Christians (Jews would be committing blasphemy by worshiping a man). It is the Jewish teaching that has the word of the Almighty, Blessed be His name NOT Christianity. I have in the last three years turned my back on Christianity and have started following the seven Noachyde laws as prescribed by Torah. I suggest that all Christians go and study and do likewise.

(20)
jeffrey camson,
June 20, 2003 12:00 AM

christianity hated Judaism-tryu to remove their the beginnings of their faith.

It was well done. Imagine the number of Jews in the world today had we not been hounded for our faith. We were far ahead of other relgions and they despised us for being!

(19)
Ethel,
June 18, 2003 12:00 AM

Jewish history, #50

So the christians don't like hearing the truth about their religion. Too bad! Truth is truth and while some may be better today, christians, both catholic, protestant and other still practice hatred against the Jews--and others.

(18)
Vicky Mitchell,
June 16, 2003 12:00 AM

outstanding!

These history lessons are wonderful!! Thank you so very much. I do appreciate them.

(17)
Alan,
June 16, 2003 12:00 AM

Now I understand why "Luthor" was the enemy of Superman...

I had such respect for Luther as an enemy of corruption; now, I am disheartened to see he was an enemy of the Jews. I was not exposed to this dark side of history in my college history class -- I am happy that you have shed light on it.

(16)
Ramon Simon Perez-Riera,
June 16, 2003 12:00 AM

Excellent articles by Rabbi Ken Spiro

Shalom....Thanks very much for the importants articles by Rabbi Ken Spiro. I learn in each article published. It is a blessing from Hashem. Estas publicaciones son verdaderamente excelentes, gracias por ello.

(15)
Rex S. Rambo,
June 15, 2003 12:00 AM

Protestant Refomation did advance knowlege with the advent of the printing press

While knowlege should advance civilization, this is not always the case because the virlent Jew canards were printed by Martin Luther and were not refuted. Jews have given the world monotheim. A system of laws and commandments that stopped human sacrifice to the gods. This advanced civilization even to this day.

(14)
Eric Petersen,
November 24, 2002 12:00 AM

Rabbi Spiro's Jewish History Series

Just like to congratulate Rabbi Spiro on an excellent job - well written, lucid and to the point.

(13)
Anonymous,
June 4, 2002 12:00 AM

This is a great work. Congratulations.

Now, I must admit that this is probalby one of the best short history of a people ever written. Your work helps Jews and non-Jews alike to understand the history of the Jewsish people and how they suffered throuhg out most of their history. Anti-semitism always bothered me but it also puzzled me as to why educated people like Germans were almost united to commit the barbaic holocost. Well, I just finishd reading the capter 'Reformation and the Jews'. I am disgusted and shockingly surpirsed to see that a man like Luther, a great scholar (so I thought), was so cruel when it comes to the Jews whose only crime was that they did not buy his version of Christianity. As I said I am disgusted but I am puzzeled no more.
Regards,

Afroz

(12)
Kathy Tankersley,
December 5, 2001 12:00 AM

Jewish History

With much interest I have read every lesson so far, very interesting and educational. I feel much remorse for the Jewish people. As a Christian, I've repented many times for what the early so called Christians did to the Jewish people. May God forgive us. Keep these wonderful lessons coming!

(11)
jacques Politi,
November 8, 2001 12:00 AM

You are filling a need

As a Sephardi from Egypt who is trying to do teshuva,this information is craved for

(10)
Richard Honegger,
November 8, 2001 12:00 AM

The Reformation and the Jews

Dear Rabbi Ken Spiro

Your Crash Course in Jewish History as well as the whole Website aish.com

are extremely insteresting. Thank you very much for all these information

with good ethics.

I guess it was okay that Luther did not recant his 'Ninety-Five Theses'.

However, I strongly hope that he recanted all he wrote in his 'Concerning The Jews And Their Lies' before he died. But nevertheless, it was too late.

(9)
Johnathan Davis,
November 7, 2001 12:00 AM

Keep it coming!

I love your series. Please keep 'em coming!

(8)
James bolinger,
November 5, 2001 12:00 AM

God and his people forgive us

The more I read of how we mistreated the jewish people it is no wonder it is hard to reach them and to tell them we love them. May god forgive us for the mistreatment of His chosen people and for the jewish people who read this may you forgive us. I pray God's peace on you and your blessed nation that God has promosed you

(7)
Rose King,
November 5, 2001 12:00 AM

I am so ashamed for us

Hi i love your site and read it everyday. I was raised a Lutheran and they never told us that about how he treated you, we only learned about the 95 Theses and that it was to stop the Catholics from doing stuff like indulgences and ru

(6)
Leslie Satenstein,
November 4, 2001 12:00 AM

Very much enjoyed and learned from this article about Protestantism and the Reformation.

Your article was most inspiring to me because it introduced me to a form of world history. In the article I would have liked to have some additional details about the lives of Jews during the activities written above.

(5)
Neil Belsar,
November 4, 2001 12:00 AM

I read with interest yours, and other Jewish commentators articles. I along with many others are following the unfolding events in the Middle East with concern and prayer. This is certainly a serious time for not only Jews but all of the "free world".
The history of the church is in many circumstances, sad especially the acts of Crusaders and Rome for which many of today's Christians have repented and apologised. As a Christian myself, may I say, I and many of our friends love Israel. We display Israel's flag along with America's, and Australia's in our church. We constantly pray over the flags, especially Israel's, for peace and salvation. May I encourage yourself and other Hebrew commentators to not only hold forth regarding the issues of the past, regrettable as it is, but to take note of the present climate towards yourselves and take some heart. I feel the constant reminder of the unfortunate past only holds open, even could encourage the very things that you wish to see ended.
May G-d continue to bless you.
Neil Belsar

(4)
Enzo Iammatteo,
November 4, 2001 12:00 AM

Spanish Inquesition - Santangelo and Morrano

Thank you very much for the series. It is incredible, it is not only a crash course in Jewish History but it is also a crash course in Chrisitan History.

Our family names contain people that are Santangel(o) and Morrano. Both these names were mentioned in the Spanish Inquesition. Is there a reliable source for tracing our family tree. I know from source - that its origin comes from Spain but ended up in Italy.

Blessing to you and Israel.

Enzo

(3)
Joe Whitehead,
November 4, 2001 12:00 AM

Luther

As I read this article, I wondered how many people who go to a Lutheran Church know his history,more importantly, how many would care?

(2)
Alastair McEwen,
November 4, 2001 12:00 AM

Protestantism and the Jews

Of course it is with shame that Protestant Christians read about Luther. Not being a history buff I am not able to speak about the wider Protestant attitude towards the Jews, though I am sure that there were many other Protestants who also did not act as their Lord required. On the other hand it would make a useful study to broaden the scope of inquiry beyond Luther. What about Calvin? While the Nazis built on Luther to persecute, may it not be that many of the Dutch Calvinists built on Calvin to hide and protect the Jews?

(1)
Jeff Stevenson,
November 4, 2001 12:00 AM

Reformation and Martin Luthers Folly

How could Martin Luther he had known so much think that the Jews would
convert to Christianity and also was he not doing the same thing that he could not stand that the
Christian Church did that he found so intolerable.

I've been striving to get more into spirituality. But it seems that every time I make some progress, I find myself slipping right back to where I started. I'm getting discouraged and feel like a failure. Can you help?

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

Spiritual slumps are a natural part of spiritual growth. There is a cycle that people go through when at times they feel closer to God and at times more distant. In the words of the Kabbalists, it is "two steps forward and one step back." So although you feel you are slipping, know that this is a natural process. The main thing is to look at your overall progress (over months or years) and be able to see how far you've come!

This is actually God's ingenious way of motivating us further. The sages compare this to teaching a baby how to walk. When the parent is holding on, the baby shrieks with delight and is under the illusion that he knows how to walk. Yet suddenly, when the parent lets go, the child panics, wobbles and may even fall.

At such times when we feel spiritually "down," that is often because God is letting go, giving us the great gift of independence. In some ways, these are the times when we can actually grow the most. For if we can move ourselves just a little bit forward, we truly acquire a level of sanctity that is ours forever.

Here is a practical tool to help pull you out of the doldrums. The Sefer HaChinuch speaks about a great principle in spiritual growth: "The external awakens the internal." This means that although we may not experience immediate feelings of closeness to God, eventually, by continuing to conduct ourselves in such a manner, this physical behavior will have an impact on our spiritual selves and will help us succeed. (A similar idea is discussed by psychologists who say: "Smile and you will feel happy.")

That is the power of Torah commandments. Even if we may not feel like giving charity or praying at this particular moment, by having a "mitzvah" obligation to do so, we are in a framework to become inspired. At that point we can infuse that act of charity or prayer with all the meaning and lift it can provide. But if we'd wait until being inspired, we might be waiting a very long time.

May the Almighty bless you with the clarity to see your progress, and may you do so with joy.

In 1940, a boatload 1,600 Jewish immigrants fleeing Hitler's ovens was denied entry into the port of Haifa; the British deported them to the island of Mauritius. At the time, the British had acceded to Arab demands and restricted Jewish immigration into Palestine. The urgent plight of European Jewry generated an "illegal" immigration movement, but the British were vigilant in denying entry. Some ships, such as the Struma, sunk and their hundreds of passengers killed.

If you seize too much, you are left with nothing. If you take less, you may retain it (Rosh Hashanah 4b).

Sometimes our appetites are insatiable; more accurately, we act as though they were insatiable. The Midrash states that a person may never be satisfied. "If he has one hundred, he wants two hundred. If he gets two hundred, he wants four hundred" (Koheles Rabbah 1:34). How often have we seen people whose insatiable desire for material wealth resulted in their losing everything, much like the gambler whose constant urge to win results in total loss.

People's bodies are finite, and their actual needs are limited. The endless pursuit for more wealth than they can use is nothing more than an elusive belief that they can live forever (Psalms 49:10).

The one part of us which is indeed infinite is our neshamah (soul), which, being of Divine origin, can crave and achieve infinity and eternity, and such craving is characteristic of spiritual growth.

How strange that we tend to give the body much more than it can possibly handle, and the neshamah so much less than it needs!